[Nfb-krafters-korner] FW: 25 Household tips

[Ramona Walhof]

                Here are some pieces of wisdom a friend sent to me.  Some I
know to be good, some not.  Thought people on this list  might find them
interesting.  

Ramona

 

 
Subject: 25 Household tips

 

 1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave
them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

2. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh
much longer and not mold!

3. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

4. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
grease away from the meat while cooking.

5. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls
of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

6. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in
double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty
frosting.

7. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic
and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

8. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place
them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

9. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat
to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro
pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

10. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken
up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing
thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw
bag away when done easy clean up.

11. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your
mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more
cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per
serving.

12. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in
a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food
moist and help it reheat faster.

13. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go. Cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic
they will not get through wet newspapers.

14. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you
can't see easily.

15. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

16. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne
pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't
come near it.

17. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty
paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or
flattened to get in narrow openings.

18. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing
panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... guess what! ... static is
gone.

19. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.
Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such
as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. (Or spray the
measuring cup or spoon with Pam before using)

20. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box
of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a
cloth!

21. Re-opening envelopes
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something
inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two.
Viola! It unseals easily.

22. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving
cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up
the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

23. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple
Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find
those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

24. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,'
can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it
rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small
children being harmed!

25. Dryer Filter
Even if you are very diligent about cleaning the lint filter in your dryer
it still may be causing you a problem. If you use dryer sheets a waxy build
up could be accumulating on the filter causing your dryer to over heat. The
solution to this is to clean your filter with with a toothbrush and hot
soapy water every 6 months.